LAHORE: Children’s Hospital is establishing a paediatric organ transplant facility to carry out sensitive procedures in three critical areas – cardiac, kidney and liver transplant.

This life-saving organ transplant facility will be provided in collaboration with the Birmingham Children’s Hospital, England, as the Children’s Hospital/Institute of Child Health has inked an agreement with it.

If the scheme materialises as elaborated in the agreement, it will be the first-ever public sector healthcare programme in pediatric specialised health facilities in Pakistan. Such facilities are rare in the country since the government’s focus has largely been on health infrastructure for the adult population which is evident from a few specialised teaching hospitals for the pediatric care in the province. The 680-bed Children’s Hospital/Institute of Child Health is the only full-fledged multi-specialty public institute. In addition to radiology and pathology services, there are 26 paediatric and paediatric surgery sub-specialties and super-specialties. This institute also lacked the critical facilities of organ transplant in cardiac, liver and kidney procedures. Resultantly, parents take their children to India and other countries for treatment.

As some of the diseases of the Pakistani population are peculiar with this region, the potential exchange of staff and research collaboration are also part of the agreement to increase the staff knowledge and understanding of the cultural origins of this vulnerable group as well as to enhance relationships with the community.

According to the agreement, the organ transplant scheme will be implemented in phases. In the first phase, the Children’s Hospital will start renal transplant at the new building which is near completion.

For the purpose, a team, headed by Dr Khalid Sharif from Birmingham Children’s Hospital, is scheduled to visit next month to inspect the building infrastructure and other preparations required to start procedure.

From Children’s Hospital, head of Kidney Department Prof Ziaul Miraj, is scheduled to visit the Birmingham hospital for a six-week training programme.

Both sides have also agreed on super specialty training for a period of two years at the Birmingham institute which will help Pakistan address dearth in qualified and trained pediatric health professionals.

On the return of Prof Miraj, the institute will line up the patients and then intimate the Birmingham institute doctors to re-visit and start renal transplant.

“We are likely to start first renal transplant within a couple of months with the collaboration of Birmingham’s highly trained pediatric surgeons,” Children’s Hospital Dean Prof Masood Sadiq told Dawn.

He said the Punjab government had already approved the start of pediatric organ transplant and in order to materialise this programme, the hospital had finalised modalities with the Birmingham institute in a memorandum of understanding (MoU), signed with Sarah Jane Marsh, chief executive officer of Birmingham Children’s Hospital, on Jan 23, he said.

Prof Sadiq said the purpose of the MoU was to identify the roles and responsibilities of the each party related to training, exchange of professionals, establishment of an organ transplant centre and collaborative research. He said presently hundreds of children with kidney failure were on dialysis and they needed transplant in their home country to avoid expensive treatment abroad. Of them, approximately 400 required renal transplant while the children close to the same number also required liver transplant.

“We have provided 16 operation theatres at the new indoor building of the Children’s Hospital, including five designated theatres for the sensitive procedures mentioned above”, Prof Sadiq said, adding that the institute was awaiting agreement with the Birmingham hospital which had now been done to materialise this critical programme.

Another important aim of the MoU is to undertake collaborative research programs, benefiting patients in both the institutes, he said.

To a question, Prof Sadiq said the last year, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had provided funds to perform liver transplant on only 20 to 25 children, adding that one could easily guess how many children were forced to go abroad or abandon treatment due to inadequate services.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2015

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